Moved by her final shows: joyful retrospectives of her extraordinary contributions to the world, I emailed Oprah at end of her 25th season. I thanked her for giving us so much, being so real, and inspiring us to embrace and cultivate more of who we truly are.
And I’ve been getting an occasional direct email reply from her ever since.
Me and probably millions of others.
Her notes feel very personal, newsy and unpretentious. Like a sister’s. No fancy header at the top, no click-through buttons promoting stuff, no perfect punctuation… just a plain regular message about what she’s experiencing in her life now that she has hung up the mic and left the stage at Harpo.
…Like this last email [excerpt] from Oprah:
“…Started out the week taking swimming lessons. Moving beyond my amateur doggy paddle. Learned the breast stroke today.
Over a year ago I pulled a picture from O mag of a woman gliding through water. It was such a striking image of Freedom and possibility I put it on my vision board (which I’ve still not completed). Today when I finished my swimming lesson I passed the vision board lying on the table where it’s been since 2009. I had an aha moment. I had just become that woman, gliding through the water!
For years I’ve been a challenged swimmer, afraid of the water and fighting it. Today I learned to move with the flow.
This I’ve known forever is the great metaphor of life. “Move with the flow”. Don’t fight the current. Resist nothing. Let life carry you. Don’t try to carry it.
Sometimes we just have to be reminded. A swim lesson did it for me…
At my core I’m a teacher, masquerading as a talk show host.
And now I’ll have a nightly class on OWN.But for now, I’m enjoying every breath of Summer.
I hope you all are appreciating the warm sun and blue sky where ever you are.Everyday I wake up grateful. For the smallest things and big things:
Health. Living in the U.S.A. Freedom. Democracy.
Promise and Potential. Growth.
And tiny pleasures like bathing my dogs or picking vegetables.I have a garden, and every Thursday we harvest our veggies. I grew up in Mississippi, too young to appreciate what it means to pull beans from the vine. Then I just thought it was work, now I get a little thrill from every onion and corn stalk. Yes I’m growing CORN in my back yard. And beets and lots of basil.
I cook for Stedman, but have a limited repertoire.
Next I think I may want to take one of those Tuscany cooking courses.
Will let you know how it goes.
The Best of Life to you,
Oprah Winfrey
Would you like to move some (stuck) energy and experience more flow?
In the spirit this message from Oprah, be sure to check out my one-minute clearing practice (“One Minute to Flow”) in my next post.
